Pileated Woodpecker

This morning Joan headed out to clear the inch or so of new snow that arrived overnight. She quickly came back inside to report that there was a pileated woodpecker low down in a tree near our garage. I gathered up tripod, camera and ‘Big Bertha’, my 600 mm telephoto lens and headed out to the driveway just outside the garage.

I spent about a half hour watching a male pileated woodpecker excavate a typical rectangular gallery in a pine tree while feeding on the carpenter ants it exposed. I made about 700 (!) exposures in the half hour mostly in small bursts. I was hoping to capture a few flying wood chips in addition to a nice pose of the bird.

Pileated Woodpecker (male) #1

Pileated Woodpecker (male) #2

Pileated Woodpecker (male) #3

Pileated Woodpecker (male) #4